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    <section class="chapter" title="Symbols and namespaces" epub:type="chapter" id="Symbols-and-namespaces">
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            <h2 class="title">Symbols and namespaces</h2>
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      <p>An identifier is a name that appears in a program.
</p>
      <p>A symbol is an object representing a string that cannot be
modified. This string is called the symbol’s name. Unlike strings, two
symbols whose names are spelled the same way are indistinguishable.
A symbol is immutable (unmodifiable) and normally viewed as atomic.
Symbols are useful for many applications; for instance, they may be
used the way enumerated values are used in other languages.
</p>
      <p>In addition to the simple symbols of standard Scheme, Kawa
also has compound (two-part) symbols.
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